Wreck-It Ralph

After all the hard hitting dramas being released for Oscar Season it was refreshing to have an animation thrown in for some lighter viewing.

You should all be aware by now of my usual disclaimer that I have not read the book of whatever adaptation I happen to be watching.  It will not come as a shock when I announce that I have not played the vast majority of the computer games featured in Wreck-It Ralph.  I have no idea what I do with my ample amounts of free time.

PLOT:  After thirty years of being the villain Wreck-It Ralph (John C.Reilly) decides it is time to stop being the bad guy.  Ralph learns that by winning a medal he will become a hero and be accepted by the residents of his game Fix-It Felix Jnr.  Ralph travels to Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush in search of the coveted medal.  END PLOT

Wreck-It Ralph follows the traditional beats of every single “road to self-acceptance” film ever created and uses the novelty of computer game characters in an attempt to disguise that it offers the audience nothing new.

Despite the endless scope for introducing different worlds the vast majority of the film takes place in Sugar Rush where no amount of candy related puns can hide the fact that the grand finale is so predictable it is offensive.

In the first act of the film there are plenty of brief appearances from familiar characters and the villains’ support group is genuinely amusing but these cameos add nothing to the main body of the plot and are there for nostalgic purposes only. 

John C. Reilly is perfect as Ralph however the rest of cast were incredibly irritating.

The sound of nails on a chalkboard is more appealing that listening to Sarah Silverman.   Silverman’s Vanellope was supposed to be childishly grating but not for the duration of the 108min running time.  I absolutely hated everything about the character and that is all down to Silverman.

Disney recycled the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and turned him into Wreck-It Ralph’s main villain King Candy.   Alan Tudyk’s voice work was passable but the character did not work and was nothing more than a lazy rehash.

Just as I was considering praying for deafness that walking sexually-transmitted-disease -with-a-voice-box Rhianna started playing over a fucking montage.  It was at this moment any chance of me enjoying Wreck-It Ralph died.

The one thing I can’t complain about is the visuals which were truly stunning.  I watched Wreck-It Ralph in 2D but there were plenty of opportunities within the Sugar Rush world for some decent 3D especially during the racing scenes.

Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph felt distinctly run of the mill when compared to the storytelling of Pixar and even Dreamworks more recent offerings and it gets 3/10.  I have never been this disappointed by Disney and see the film as nothing other than a wasted opportunity.